Quarantine Check-In

Oh the quarantine life…. Do you find yourself loving it or hating it?  Are you enjoying your alone time or are you anxiously awaiting the inevitable release parties?  Or are you in the trenches and working harder than ever?

I, for one, have to say that I am absolutely loving life in quarantine.  I mean I could do without the grocery stores always being ransacked and the having to gear up to go anywhere bit, but other than that I am really happy in quarantine!  I particularly love being on my own time table.  Even though I am definitely the lazy wandering bull, I do tend to keep myself on a schedule - the difference being that in quarantine it is my schedule and not anyone else’s.  I am finding that this might be the real reason behind a lot of my stress and no - I don’t know what to do about it yet.  I just know I love not being on anyone else’s schedule.  I mean I definitely lived the hamster wheel life.  Every morning was a delicate balance of trying to make time for my musts and still getting out the door on time.  At work it was more of the same.  After work I always made the mad dash to the gym, then home to shower and by the time I was ready to eat I was beyond starving and just threw whatever was available into my mouth.  At the end of the day I would fall onto the couch for some night time tea and a few minutes of mindless entertainment via the television then I was off to the mattress for a few hours of shut eye only to repeat the hellish cycle the next day.

My life in quarantine is so much better.  I wake up around 8 AM, wash my face, do my sinus wash, get 20 - 30 minutes of yoga time, have my morning meditation and prayer, make a nice breakfast on the stove, have my morning tea while reading (currently doing a New Testament Study and The Power of Now) then I slowly move into whatever I have placed on the agenda for the day.  Right now the rest of my day involves adult color books, painting, writing, job hunting, spring cleaning, hiking, dancing and anything else I feel like doing.  Of course,  I am aware that this cannot continue since I am not a trust fund baby.  I don’t see not working in my future unless I somehow fall in love with someone who falls in love with me who happens to make enough money for me to not work and let me tell you I just don’t see that in my cards.  So I am going to have to figure out how to keep some of what I have whenever I return to the hamster wheel of life.

Needless to say, I haven’t even thought about drinking.  I’m too happy enjoying life.  And in a way this is kind of funny since my cravings don’t usually come when I am in a pinch - my cravings always come when there is no pinch.  I guess you could call me a survivalist at heart because when I need to I can always bear down, stay alert and survive whatever I need to… It’s when the pressure is off that I have an issue.  All of a sudden my mind decides it deserves a cocktail or a moment of stillness or “the edge” taken off… and the craving commences.  I haven’t had to deal with any of that lately, of course, I have also been learning some other tricks to quiet my stupid mind as of late.  Maybe that’s why too.  Maybe I know there are other ways that don’t cost money or involve going anywhere.  I can sit in stillness and ask my mind, I wonder what my next thought is going to be and watch it crumble.  The mind doesn't like being watched - who knew!  

So I am keeping a balance in terms of doing things I want to do and doing things I need to do and allowing myself time to breathe and enjoy life and I’ve never been happier.  I guess my next step is to figure out how to take some of this back to the hamster wheel of life that is inevitably coming back with a vengeance once the lockdowns start lifting.

What about you?  Have you learned anything about how your former life was affecting you before quarantine?  How it might have been affecting your sobriety?   Do you have any plans or desires to take some of your quarantine life with you into your future?